Singtel, Singapore’s largest operator, posted weak results for its fiscal Q2 as the falling Australian dollar pushed down both revenue and net profit, which would have increased without the forex impact.

The Australian dollar fell 12.8 per cent against the Singapore dollar from a year ago. Its Australian unit, Optus, accounted for 56 per cent of the company’s revenue and 55 per cent of its EBITDA during the three-month period.

Singtel’s net profit for the quarter fell 0.8 per cent year-on-year to SGD1.03 billion ($724 million) and EBITDA was down 3.3 per cent to SGD1.29 billion.

A 4 per cent drop in consumer revenue (to SGD2.54 billion), which represented 61 per cent of the total, led to a 2.9 per cent fall in in the top line to SGD4.18 billion.

In constant currency terms, total revenue increased 5.1 per cent and EBITDA rose 4.5 per cent.

Group mobile turnover dropped 6.2 per cent to SGD1.72 billion, while data revenue also was down 3.5 per cent to SGD773 million.

Group enterprise revenue, accounting for 37 per cent of total revenue, also fell, dropping 3.8 per cent to SGD1.54 billion.

In its home market, consumer revenue was stable at SGD597 million. Mobile turnover increased 2.3 per cent to SGD328 million, with postpaid revenue rising as customers migrated to its 4G Combo service plans and upgraded to higher data bundles, the company said.

During the quarter 25 per cent of customers on tiered plans exceeded their data bundles, up from 19 per cent a year ago. More than half of its prepaid customers use mobile data services.

It added 77,000 4G customers from the previous quarter, giving it a total of 2.08 million 4G users. Postpaid ARPU fell 3 per cent to SGD73 ($52.31).

Australia
Consumer revenue at Australian unit Optus increased 8.9 per cent to AUD1.92 billion ($1.35 billion) in the quarter as mobile turnover rose 3.3 per cent to AUD1.16 billion and equipment sales jumped 56 per cent to AUD307 million. Data revenue increased 21 per cent, blended ARPU edged up 2 per cent and it added 600,000 postpaid customers.

Optus’ 4G customer base hit 4.08 million, after increasing by 310,000 last quarter. 4G users account for 44 per cent of total subscribers.

Singtel’s regional units’ post-tax contributions grew 8.4 per cent on higher profits of Telkomsel (Indonesia) and Globe Telecom (Philippines), which was partly offset by Airtel’s higher fair value losses.

Its digital life unit saw revenue increase 47 per cent to SGD111 million.

The company lowed its mobile revenue outlook for FY2016 ending 31 March, with growth in the low single digits, down from the mid single digits.

Group capex is forecast at about SGD3 billion, comprising SGD1.9 million for Australia and SGD1.1 billion for Singapore. That includes setting up a new data centre in Singapore and continued network investment in Australia.